Dr. SIEVEKING (Germany). Mr. President, the amendment partially intends to shorten the verbiage of the rule and partly to extend the principle, which is now confined to sea-going vessels without a foremast, to all vessels. Vessels without a foremast, according to Article 2 as it now stands, the breadth of which exceeds 40 feet, need not to carry the lights at a greater height than 40 feet. This certainly was not intended to be limited to vessels without a foremast; but the intention was that the light mentioned in Article 2 (a), in any case, by any vessel, need not be carried at a greater height than 40 feet. So this amendment only extends this principle, which has been adopted for vessels without a foremast, to all vessels.

The PRESIDENT. If there be no objection, the amendment will be considered as adopted.

Mr. GOODRICH (United States). Mr. President, if there is no objection, I will read the article as it would stand amended. Subdivision a reads:

"On or in front of the foremast, or, if a vessel without a foremast, then in the fore part of the vessel, at a height above the hull of not less than 20 feet, and, if the breadth of the vessel exceeds 20 feet, then at a height above the hull not less than such breadth, so, however, that the light need not be carried at a greater height above the hull than 40 feet, a bright white light, etc."

Then strike out the next paragraph.

If there is no objection, I will call the attention of the Conference now to amendment No. 4, a little out of its order, for a reason which will appear.

The PRESIDENT. Do you understand that this has been accepted? Mr. GOODRICH (United States). Unless there is objection; yes, sir. The PRESIDENT. If the Chair hears no objection, this amendment will be considered as accepted. The Chair hears none, therefore the amend ment is considered as accepted. The delegate from the United States desires now to have amendment No. 4 read.

Amendment No. 4 is as follows:

"Amendment to Collocation Report proposed by Captain Shackford (United States), December 14, 1889.

"ART. 3

"Second paragraph, second line; strike out guidance of its tow,' and insert vessel being towed to steer by.""

Mr. GOODRICH (United States). Mr. President, the Collocation Committee have assented to this, because it seems to them to better express the meaning than the words adopted by the Committee. It should be stated that these are the words originally proposed by my colleague, Captain Shackford.

The PRESIDENT. Should there be no objection on the part of the Conference, this amendment will be adopted. The Chair hears no objection, and the amendment is considered adopted. The Secretary will now please read amendment No. 3.

Amendment No. 3 is as follows:

"Amendment to Collocation Report proposed by Mr. Frederick W. Verney (Siam), December 14, 1889.

"ART. 3 to read as follows:

"A steam-vessel when towing another vessel shall, in addition to her side lights, carry two bright white lights in a vertical line, one over the other, not less than 6 feet apart, the (upper-lower) one of which shall be carried at a height above the hull as directed by Article 2 (a). When towing more than one vessel and when the length of the tow measuring from the stern of the towing vessel to the stern of the last vessel towed exceeds 600 feet she shall carry an additional white light 6 feet above or below such lights, [but at a height of not less than 14 feet above the hull]. Each of these lights shall be of the same construction and character.

"Such steam-vessel may carry a small white light abaft the funnel or aftermast for the guidance of her tow, but such light shall not be visible forward of the beam."

Mr. GOODRICH (United States). Mr. President, the last clause of that amendment, I suppose, is obviated by amendment No. 4, which has been adopted; and I presume that the learned delegate from Siam will withdraw that motion.

Mr. VERNEY (Siam). Yes, sir; certainly.

Mr. GOODRICH (United States). Mr. President, the other part of it the Collocation Committee do not assent to, after very careful consideration, because they do not see that the suggestions by the learned delegate from Siam better the language adopted by the Conference, and it really embraces a new principle.

Mr. VERNEY (Siam). Mr. President, I am very sorry to hear that statement, because I was entirely misled by the note which I see accompanies this amendment, "Agreed to in Collocation Committee."

Mr. GOODRICH (United States). Mr. President, the gentleman will see that it is placed in a different position. It, perhaps, might have been a little more specific, and is perhaps a printer's mistake. In the other amendment you will notice that the words " Agreed to in Collocation Committee” are at the bottom of the page, because they embrace the whole article; but in this case it is attached to the last paragraph. Mr. VERNEY (Siam). Mr. President, I am very sorry. I need not say that I would be at a very considerable disadvantage to get up and argue in favor of this amendment when I was under the misapprehension that it had been agreed to in the Collocation Committee. I can only say that I do not wish to take up the time of the Conference, if the Conference is of the opinion that the other wording is better. It is a mere question of words. I ventured to entertain the opinion that this wording was the clearest, but if the other gentlemen do not think so, I certainly do not intend to press this amendment on a mere question of verbiage. I do not for a moment mean to stand here in rivalry in a matter of that kind with others who are so much more able than myself to ex

press themselves in English, and have a much greater command of the English language than I could possibly obtain. Therefore, I put myself entirely in the hands of the Conference.

Mr. GOODRICH (United States). Mr. President, do I understand the learned delegate to withdraw the amendment?

Mr. VERNEY (Sia:n). Mr. President, no, sir; I do not think I should do that. I should prefer to have a vote taken upon the subject.

Mr. GOODRICH (United States). Mr. President, I do not understand how the delegate can put himself in the hands of the Collocation Committee and then ask to take a vote upon the amendment.

Mr. VERNEY (Siam). Mr. President, I said that I would put myself in the hands of the Conference. I have taken a great deal of time in drawing and preparing this, and I should prefer to have a vote of the Conference upon it, and if it is decided against me I will not ask for the yeas and nays.

The PRESIDENT. Is the Conference ready for the question upon amendment No. 3?

The question was put to the Conference upon the adoption of the first part of amendment No. 3, and the amendment was lost.

Mr. VERNEY (Siam). Mr. President, perhaps I may save the time of the Conference if the same course is taken in Collocation Committee in regard to amendment No. 5, and I will withdraw it.

Mr. GOODRICH (United States). Mr. President, I want to say that the Collocation Committee have very carefully considered all the amendments of the learned delegate from Siam and have given them a great deal of attention, because he seems to have the happy faculty of using language, and one of them, at least, we shall ask the Conference to adopt, wherein we think he has very much improved upon the language of the committee.

Mr. VERNEY (Siam). Mr. President, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

The PRESIDENT. The delegate from Siam withdraws amendment No. 5. Amendment No. 6 will be read.

Amendment No. 6 is as follows:

"Amendment to Collocation Report proposed by Dr. Sieveking on behalf of the German delegation, December 14, 1889.

"In Article 5, instead of the word 'light' in the last line insert the word 'lights.'"

Mr. GOODRICH (United States). Mr. President, this is merely a ver bal correction. It was a typographical error.

The PRESIDENT. If there be no objection to amendment No. 6 it will be accepted. The Chair hears none, therefore the amendment will be considered accepted.

The next amendment in order will be No. 7. The Secretary will please read it.

Amendment No. 7 is as follows:

"Amendment to Collocation Report proposed by the delegates for Great Britain, December 14, 1889.

"Article 5, last line, read lights for light."

The PRESIDENT. Amendment No. 7 will be accepted, unless the Chair hears objections. The Chair hears no objections, and therefore the amendment will be considered as accepted.

The next amendment is No. 8, which the Secretary will please read. Amendment No. 8 is as follows:

"Amendment to Collocation Report proposed by Mr. VERNEY (Siam), December 14, 1889.

6

"Article 6. Instead of the words, and shall on the approach of or to other vessels,' insert the words, and they shall, on nearing, or being neared by other vessels."

Mr. GOODRICH (United States). Mr. President, the Collocation Committee venture to suggest to the learned delegate from Siam that to adopt that language will involve an alteration of five or six rules. The Collocation Committee do not think that the words suggested by him make any difference in the rules, and therefore we venture to hope that the learned delegate will not press his amendment.

Mr. VERNEY (Siam). Mr. President, I am quite aware that the words which I have suggested do not alter the meaning of the rule in any way whatever; but I hoped that they would be able to accept them in the Collocation Committee. I wish to point out an objection to this amendment of my own, which the learned delegate for the United States did not perhaps notice. That objection is this; we have now adopted in Article 8, the second paragraph, that "on the near approach of or to other vessels;" this Conference will see that that puts me in a difficulty, because it prevents me from using the phrase which I had originally intended. I think it is only fair to add that I have been trying to adapt my own phraseology to that which has been adopted by the Conference, and I confess that I am unable to invent words which would exactly embrace the meaning I desire. Still I venture to say that the expression now used "on the approach of or to" is not a very elegant one, and it is one which I, personally, regret to see adopted into the rules. However, on the case as stated by the delegate from the United States, I will withdraw my amendment, unless some one can help me in my difficulty.

The PRESIDENT. Amendment No. 8 has been withdrawn. Amendment No. 9 is next in order. The Secretary will please read it. Amendment No. 9 is as follows:

"Amendment to Collocation Report proposed by the delegates for The Netherlands, December 14, 1889.

"Article 7. Strike out the words and not fishing' in the third line." Mr. GOODRICH (United States). Mr. President, although the talismanic words "agreed to in Collocation Committee" are not on this

amendment, yet the Collocation Committee last night, after very careful consideration, believe that this is a very proper amendment and that it carries out the meaning of the rule. Therefore to this amendment the Collocation Committee give their recommendation.

The PRESIDENT. Is the Conference ready for the question upon this amendment?

The question was put to the Conference upon the adoption of Amend. ment No. 9, and it was adopted.

The PRESIDENT. The next amendment is No. 10. The Secretary will please read it.

Amendment No. 10 is as follows.

"Amendment to Collocation Report proposed by Dr. Sieveking on behalf of the German delegation, December 14, 1889.

"In Article 7, 1 (a), instead of the word 'fitted' insert 'fixed.'”

Mr. GOODRICH (United States). Mr. President, this is a mere verbal correction.

The PRESIDENT. If there should be no objection the amendment will be accepted. The Chair hears no objection, and the amendment is considered as accepted. The next amendment is No. 11. The Secretary will please read it.

Amendment No. 11 is as follows:

"Amendment to Collocation Report proposed by Admiral BowdenSmith (Great Britain), December 14, 1889.

"ART. 7. Subsection (b). Insert 'combined' before 'lantern,' in third line."

Mr. GOODRICH (United States). Mr. President, it is owing to the fact that the lantern described in the first two lines of that article is to be described in the same way in all the articles, and up to this time there has been no word given to it.

Mr. HALL (Great Britain). Mr. President, that is the word which is used in our navy regulations. It is called a "combined" lantern.

The PRESIDENT. As this has been agreed upon by the Collocation Committee, if there be no objection it will be accepted. The Chair hears no objections, and the amendment will be considered as accepted. The next amendment is No. 12.

Mr. VERNEY (Siam). Mr. President, I withdraw that amendment for the reasons I have before given.

The PRESIDENT. The amendment No. 12 is withdrawn. The next amendment is No. 13. The Secretary will please read it.

Amendment No. 13 is as follows:

"Amendment to Collocation Report proposed by Captain Norcross (United States), December 14, 1889.

"Article 8. Second paragraph, strike out the words 'show them temporarily' and substitute, flash them at short intervals.""

"In third paragraph, strike out 'shown temporarily' and substitute 'flashed at short intervals.'”